Your Right to Know

Debbie Anderson paid homage to one of her favorite bands for nearly 20 years before the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles told her she would have to turn in her personalized license plate.

Another driver complained that IN2XTC was a reference to the drug ecstasy, not the ’80s band. That was three years ago, and the Grove City record collector had been trying ever since to pin down a new musical plate.

She finally got her wish this month when OLBLUIZ became available. “I don’t think there’s anybody who can be offended by Frank Sinatra,” Anderson said.

The BMV committee that reviews every vanity plate request has rejected about 300 applicants in the past year. It bars the profane, obscene and sexually explicit. And plates cannot provoke violence or promote lawless activity.

That means the dozens of references to sex acts, bodily functions and some people’s feelings about the president were rejected.

The six-member group recently shot down a request for TNTBONE, believing it was a reference to an explosive penis. Turns out, the applicant’s initials are TN, and he plays the trombone.

After an appeal, the license plate was allowed.

But KLL ZMBZ? Nixed. BOOGRRS? Scrapped. HLYCRP? Nope.

“Sometimes, we’re way off,” said Tim Gatton, a member of the committee. “Or they have a really good explanation, and we bought it.”

The state’s administrative rules were written in a 2003 settlement with Anthony Zucco, who sued the state when his request for a RDRGE vanity plate was denied. Zucco ultimately received the plate, and the BMV outlined criteria that it could modify in the future.

Officials with the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Zucco in that case, say that while the guidelines have improved, they still limit First Amendment freedoms.

“What could you possibly come up with in seven or eight characters that is obscene? Offensive — that’s another story,” said ACLU Ohio spokesman Gary Daniels. “The First Amendment doesn’t protect against people who feel offended.”

The ACLU has jumped into a free-speech fight over license plates in New Hampshire, too. The organization testified in a state Supreme Court case in which a man’s request for a COPSLIE plate was denied.

New Hampshire rejects vanity plates that “a reasonable person would find to be offensive to good taste,” said Richard Head, an associate attorney general who is representing the state. A Supreme Court decision is not expected for months.

At the Ohio BMV, the review committee meets each morning between rows of cubicles to debate a list of hundreds of vanity plate requests.

They roll out chairs and call out the plates they have flagged for discussion while another member types the plates into Internet searches and UrbanDictionary.com. Plates also can be referred back to the group by drivers who find them offensive.

This week, the group reviewed 711 requests and didn’t deny a single plate. That’s unusual, said Devon Riggins, who heads up the group.

It takes only one dissenting vote for a plate to be denied.

One debate centered on a request for SMRF TRD. The group wondered if the plate could refer to excrement from the fictional creatures, but the person who applied for the plate noted that it represented children’s initials.

Another discussion focused on whether 1JUICE represented steroids until a member suggested it likely was the car model — a Volkswagen Beetle — and the plate combined to form Beetlejuice.

Those who fill out vanity plate forms in person can note the meaning they are after, but the BMV’s online system does not provide that option. When plates are questioned, the group often calls applicants.

“There’s always something amusing,” said Kendra O’Connor, a member of the committee.